Chapter One

The Aftermath

Of the dozen or so who had escaped the prison, precious few remained. They hid in the bowels of the stadium that still clawed at the smoky sky above the city; their world had been reduced to a number they could count with their shoes still on. The air still held on to the smoke that had blanketed the city a little over a month before.

Sarah stepped out of the blessedly cold bathroom. Showering had become a luxury they could no longer indulge in, so she took every opportunity she could to sponge off the grime that clung to her skin. Self-imposed water restrictions allowed them little more than a wet rag to combat it, but she took what she could.

She hummed mindlessly, taking comfort in the gentle tune of her mother’s favourite hymn as she dried herself off. It bounced off the cold walls, echoing through the air.

Sarah had lived a single life for so long, filling every spare minute with work, studies and the monotony of day-to-day life, that she had never truly realised what it meant to be alone until now.

Echoed footsteps broke through her singing and she trailed off into silence, turning to face the narrow steps that led down to the washroom.

‘Don’t stop on my account. At least you can carry a tune,’ Meghan joked as she stepped inside, her brown hair tossed up in a clip on the top of her head. Since saving Sarah from under the car, the women had grown close, their friendship increasing as their group dwindled down to five at the hands of the infected, and the sweeping fires that had destabilised most of the buildings in which they had tried to find shelter.

‘Hmm?’ Sarah looked up, embarrassed at the attention. ‘Just the magic of good acoustics, that’s all.’

Meghan unwrapped the ragged towel from her slender form and stepped up to the bucket, eyeing the water suspiciously. ‘The boys haven’t beaten us to it today?’

Sarah shook her head.

‘I made sure I put my